Bengaluru: The Karnataka government is considering reviving a long-pending plan to develop a network of satellite towns on the outskirts of Bengaluru, beginning with Bidadi, in a bid to shore up the state’s coffers.
The ambitious project was originally proposed 17 years ago to decongest India’s IT capital, but the Siddaramaiah-led government is now looking at it as a revenue stream to draw much-needed funds to the cash-strapped economy, people aware of the developments said.
The government will kick off the project with Bidadi, which is known for its industrial parks, including a Toyota-Kirloskar plant, and the infamous Eagleton Resort where political parties hosted legislators to keep them from being poached by the opposition.
The government hopes the proposed township in Bidadi — the first of at least three such satellite towns on the outer periphery of the IT capital that will become part of Greater Bengaluru — will attract investors to the area.
Already, land is selling at a premium in Bidadi, which lies about 35 km from Bengaluru, and other areas on the outskirts of Bengaluru such as Kunigal, Solur and Nandagudi.
“About 9,000-12,000 acres of land is available near Bidadi and we will pay farmers (whose lands have been acquired) with developed land. We don’t have to pay cash,” said a senior government official, requesting anonymity.
People aware of the developments said the new plan to revive the Bidadi project was drawn up by a government committee and Boston Consulting Group (BCG), roped in as a consultant to identify revenue mobilisation streams in the state.
The government is looking to mobilise resources to help balance the heavy cash outflows on funding the state’s guarantee schemes and bring in some much-needed capital to fund development projects.
The official cited above said a cash flow issue has forced the government to deny funds to many other programmes and schemes to keep money flowing into its five guarantees, estimated to cost around Rs 60,000 crore annually, or nearly 20 percent of Karnataka’s budget of around Rs 3.71 lakh crore.
On the drawing board
With urban centres across India getting increasingly congested, several state governments have created twin or satellite cities to reduce the burden on existing infrastructure.
Delhi-Gurgaon, Kolkata-Howrah and Mumbai-Navi Mumbai are some prominent examples.
Since 2007, successive governments in Karnataka have proposed setting up satellite towns and even a greater Bengaluru authority to accommodate the city’s ever-growing population.
However, the plan has been stuck on the drawing board since then because of land acquisition issues and political opposition.
Now, the Siddaramaiah government is looking at reviving the project with Bidadi to boost its revenues.
With three by-polls to be held on 13 November and impending elections for zilla, taluka and the Bengaluru corporation, the Siddaramaiah government is unlikely to risk starving or even revising the guarantee schemes to retain its momentum in Karnataka against the Bharatiya Janata Party and Janata Dal (Secular) alliance.
Fighting for credit
Although the project is still to take off, political leaders are already fighting to take credit for projects like a knowledge park near Bengaluru.
Karnataka Industries Minister M.B. Patil and Bengaluru South MP Tejaswi Surya got into a spat on X last week following a post by Patil appreciating Surya’s meeting with the consul general of Singapore about the knowledge park.
But Surya’s response thanking Patil for “taking forward and bringing to reality the vision set by the earlier BJP government” under former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai triggered a heated exchange.
Respected Sir,
Fully agree with you that development projects should transcend party politics. The interest of State and Nation must be paramount.
Congratulations to you personally for taking forward and bringing to reality the vision set by the earlier BJP govt under CM Shri… https://t.co/hSoynzYnzb pic.twitter.com/aTVBjCwMfe
— Tejasvi Surya (@Tejasvi_Surya) October 19, 2024
Patil responded with a longer post, asking Surya ‘not to play petty politics’ and went on to say that “announcing on paper and showing real progress are two different things, which the BJP never follows”.
Dear @Tejasvi_Surya,
When you were in kindergarten, I was a Member of Parliament. When you were just born I was a Legislator. I was the youngest member of the then parliament and assembly respectively.
I suggest you don’t play your petty politics with me.
Development projects… https://t.co/KM79Q1k6h0 pic.twitter.com/wlcKm5plEZ
— M B Patil (@MBPatil) October 19, 2024
However, the fact remains that all governments since 2007 have done little to take the proposal to build satellite towns forward.
“Not a single parcel of land has been notified or acquired. They were just identified,” said one official from the Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority (BMRDA).
According to an 11 June 2007 government order accessed by ThePrint, a total of 9,178.29 acres come under the list of villages falling within the Bidadi township project area when JD(S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy was chief minister of Karnataka.
“I wanted to make a pilot project in Bidadi and Rs 60,000 crore worth of development projects were planned. They (Congress) put a spanner in the works,” Kumaraswamy told reporters in Bengaluru Friday.
He even accused the Siddaramaiah government of wanting to hand over the land to real estate owners while leaving the farmers who lost land with nothing.
The two resource mobilisation bodies have recommended a land-for-land compensation method in Bidadi instead of acquiring land by paying cash compensation.
The system of providing developed land in return for land acquired is the same method that was used in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) case.
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‘Greater Bengaluru’
The satellite cities are just one part of a bigger plan to decongest the city.
In July, Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar got the state cabinet to approve a proposal backed by him to rename Ramanagara as ‘Bengaluru South district’, in a bid to expand the city’s boundaries, extend Metro lines and decongest the city.
But the proposal faced stiff opposition from the JD(S), which considers Ramangara its bastion, and the BJP, who accused Shivakumar of trying to cash in on the high land prices on the outskirts of Bengaluru.
The state government has even tabled a greater Bengaluru governance bill which proposes to divide India’s IT capital into smaller administrative zones for “effective governance”, and to “streamline political accountability” and “improve the quality of life”.
On Friday, Home Minister G. Parameshwara proposed that even Tumakuru, about 70 km from Bengaluru, be included in the plan to expand the boundaries of India’s IT capital.
“We want Tumakuru to be part of Greater Bengaluru. I will propose this soon,” he said.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
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